Net, Blogs and Rock'n'Roll

Plugging Claire Tchaikowski's new album

Please excuse a brief promotional post on behalf of a friend. I first met Claire Tchaikowski  almost exactly a year ago after she agreed to  give a response to my talk at the RSA.  I gave her a copy of my book; she gave me a copy of her still unmastered first album. Claire was  originally signed to Sony-BMG, and has had 'interest' from two other major labels. But for now she's going it alone, and her album is released today on iTunes (256 kbps, no DRM) via Artists Without a Label. You can also hear one of the tracks in full on Last.fm. I'm not under any illusions that this blog is on the radar of music tastemakers, but am just chipping in my personal recommendation to anyone who might lend an ear. Quote me on this: you'll like Claire more than Dido. And if you're in London, she's supporting Luka Bloom in three weeks' time.   

The professionalisation of amateur fan production

Fans are themselves major producers of resources that aid discovery — for both committed and casual or new fans. This a theme that I've returned to a few times on this blog (example). In the published version of my book I wrote about the tensions that might arise if this 'amateur' fan production continues to get more 'professional':

[S]ome fan economy endeavours are approaching the status of cottage industries, and have a high profile in their niche areas. They may play a significant role in charting parts of the Long Tail that mainstream media fail to reach. Commercial interests may want to license the materials that fans have curated and created. If this happens, or if what fans have built directly helps to lift artists and creators… out of the Long Tail to reach a larger audience, they may be justified in expecting a non-trivial share of the earnings that result.

This is the point where the fan economy bleeds into the traditional media economy. There may be opportunities for some… fans to go semi-professional if they show that they can build a credible audience or network of other fans, sufficient to attract sponsorship or merchandising deals. This could become a popular route to starting or building a career in the wider media sector, but it will also cause friction and disagreements where it is perceived to threaten the non-commercial ethos of hard-line blog culture.

The first draft of the book had an extended scenario to illustrate both the creep of professionalism and the tensions it brings. I can't write narrative or dialogue well enough to pass muster for publication in a book, so that's why this ended up on the cutting room floor, along with my other fictional scenarios. But in the hope that it might still be of interest to some, here it is.

Streaming versus Downloading: What are they good for?

I have a theory that the way we get to know music is a bit like the way we get to know potential mates. After the initial attraction, there's a flirting, getting-to-know-you stage; and then there's a going steady stage. One difference is that, with music, polygamy is fine, and it's OK to be going steady and promiscuous at the same time!

I'm interested in how these stages relate to discover-versus-ownership and to streaming-versus-downloading. It's too simplistic to say streaming = discovery = flirting (= the new radio?) while downloading = ownership = commitment (= the new record collection?), but nevertheless it seems plausible that there might be some connection between these behaviours.

According to one British ISP, the last year has seen streaming traffic almost triple, while volumes of peer-to-peer (P2P) downloads have actually fallen.